The Black Sun: The Rise of Zodiac
by Nightmare the Dragon
Summary: While running, Sonic faces his old nemesis, Dr. Eggman. The battle ends with a dark figure appearing in front of Sonic, then disappearing after speaking of a Black Sun and Lunar Emeralds. Suddenly, strange things begin to happen. Rated T for blood, violence, and possible death. First fanfic. No flames. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**The Black Sun**

**Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and the others. I only own some future characters.**

It was a day like any other day. Grown-ups went to work, kids went to school, and everyone just minded their own business. Yep, just another peaceful day.

Down near Station Square, a blue streak zipped through the streets, leaving a strong wind behind him. The blue streak was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius. Sonic was running for the sake of running, the only thing he liked to do.

Sonic came unto a clearing and stopped to look around. Everything looked normal, yet something didn't feel right. "Something's up," Sonic muttered. "I don't like the feel of this." As Sonic's sixth sense said, something was up.

Sonic saw five missiles flying towards him at high speed. Realizing this, he sped off to the right and avoided the missiles. All five missiles hit the ground creating a large explosion. After that moment, it didn't take long for Sonic to figure out who launched those.

"Eggman," Sonic muttered. A floating transport descended towards the cobalt hedgehog with a large man inside. "Oh, ho ho ho!" the fat man laughed. "Why hello there, Sonic. So nice to see you again."

"What do you want this time Eggman?" Sonic shouted.

"Oh, nothing much. Just your very death as all," Eggman replied. A large robot came down behind the Egg-mobile, and said saucer floated into the cockpit in the robot's head.

"I will defeat you, you know?" Sonic said. It wasn't really a surprise for him to be facing a giant robot designed by Eggman. He did it pretty much all the time. Not that he was complaining about it.

"Hmph, cocky little hedgehog!" Eggman said. "I'll show you yet!" The robot shot its arm forward towards Sonic in attempt to grab him. Sonic simply rolled to the side avoiding the arm. The arm was then driven into the ground and got stuck. Sonic took the opportunity of the moment and ran up the arm. The moment he got to the cockpit, he jumped up and launched a Homing Attack at Eggman.

"Gah!" Eggman shouted. "Why you little blue vermin! I'll crush you!" The robot got the arm unstuck and attacked again, this time with lasers. The lasers were fast, but Sonic was faster. He dodged every shot that was aimed at him. Sonic then used his Light Speed Attack at the robot's causing it to crash to the ground.

The robot quickly got back up and grabbed Sonic before he could attack again. The robot then threw Sonic into a nearby tree, plowing him all the way through. Sonic tried to get up, but found himself weakened from that one toss. He struggled to get to his feet, but couldn't do it.

Eggman then appeared in front of Sonic with a victorious smirk. "Ha! Looks like you're all worn out!"

"H-how is that hunk of tin so strong?" Sonic asked.

"It's simple really," Eggman said. A compartment in the robot's chest opened revealing the seven Chaos Emeralds to be inside. "I found the Chaos Emeralds and am using their power to super-charge this robot. It is invincible."

The robot's arm changed into a massive laser cannon and aimed it right at Sonic. The cannon began charging energy in its barrel and was ready to fire.

"So long Sonic! Have a nice afterlife!" Eggman bellowed. But just as he was about to fire the cannon, the arm was suddenly cut off of the robot. The energy in the cannon was released suddenly, causing it to explode.

"Who did that?" Eggman shouted. There was then another attack that sliced the robot right in the torso. The Chaos Emeralds fell out of the compartment and around Sonic. The Emeralds began to surround Sonic and were absorbed into his body. In a bright flash, Sonic had instantly transformed into Super Sonic.

Eggman stared at the golden hedgehog in worry. "Uh oh, time to go!" he quickly said. But before he could eject the Egg-mobile, Sonic drove himself through the robot in a golden streak. There was then a huge explosion and Eggman was sent flying to who knows where.

Sonic then reverted out of the Super form back into his normal form. He then quickly grabbed the Chaos Emeralds before they could scatter. "That was too easy," he said. Just as he was leaving, something caught his eye.

A black figure was standing on the tip of a pointed rock, perfectly balanced. Sonic could tell that it wasn't his old rival Shadow, due to the lack of quills. What he couldn't tell, was what the figure actually was. It just stood there with his back turned to him. In the figure's right hand, was a medium-large sword with a single edge. The blade was black and was glowing red all the way down the blade's edge.

"The time has almost come," the figure spoke. "I must find the seven Lunar Emeralds by the time of the Black Sun."

"What?" Sonic asked out loud. The figure turned his head in a way so only his right eye was visible. The eye was red. Redder than a rose, yet not blood red. The figure's glare sent shivers all the way down Sonic's spine. The figure had no pupils, but slits in his eyes. The slits seemed reptilian instead of lupine.

The figure turned his head away, sheathed his sword into a large scabbard on his back, and disappeared in a flash of black flames. Sonic just stood there in awe. He had a ton of things going through his head.

"Just who was that guy? What is he? What did he mean by 'the time has almost come'? What are the Lunar Emeralds? What does he want with them? And what is the Black Sun?" he thought.

"Tails might know what's that means," he said. "I'll check up on him." And with that, he dashed away to his friend's workshop, unaware of the events that will soon take place.

Author's Note: Finally, I got this first chapter done! It wasn't easy, considering this is my first fan fic. I also have a lot of other ideas that don't go along with the story. Anyway, please send in your reviews. But please, don't flame me. I don't like insults, and I won't take criticism. But please review. I'll have another chapter ready someday, along with another story at a different time. Until then,

Ciao!


	2. Chapter 2

**The Black Sun**

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and friends. I only own the mysterious figure and other characters to come.**

Sonic sped over to his friend: Tails' house with determination. He went through the mountains not thinking of taking the train to the workshop. As soon he got to the workshop, he barged in without thinking to knock.

"Sonic!" Tails said in surprise. "What are you doing here? And haven't you heard of knocking?" Sonic didn't want to do any unimportant chatter so he cut straight to the point.

"Sorry Tails," he began, "but this could be very important!" Sonic told Tails on what happened not too long ago. When he finished, Tails had a curious look on his face.

"That's quite interesting," he said. "I don't know what that guy meant when he said those things, but Professor Pickle might know something." Sonic hadn't seen the professor ever since the events of Sonic Unleashed. If anyone would have any information on these things, it was him.

Sonic and Tails flew straight to Spagonia and down to the professor's lab. As soon as they entered, the professor had a bright look on his face.

"Ah, Sonic! Tails," he said with great happiness. "It's been too long. How have you been?"

"Can't talk right now Professor," Tails said. "We might have some trouble on our hands."

"Oh really? What's happened?"

Sonic told him the story and then the professor began pondering. "Lunar Emeralds and a Black Sun. This seems familiar." The professor went through his databanks until he found what he needed. What he carried back was a scroll that seemed centuries old.

"This is an ancient document that has been around since what we believe was the fall of the Roman Empire," the professor explained. "It tells of a time of war that went on for several years. According to the manuscript, it tells that a dragon gifted with the power of the cosmos sealed away an ancient evil into a portal that was created by a black sun. It also states that when the portal was closed, the sun resumed its natural state."

"Okay," Sonic said, "that explains the black sun, sort of, but what about these Lunar Emeralds?"

"These documents also tell that seven crystals formed when a seal was created to keep the evil from returning. No-one knows what the crystals were for, but we do know that the seal was to last for millennia. And I doubt that it had even weakened."

All of a sudden, the place began to shake and screams could be heard from outside. Along with the screams was a horrifying shriek. The three ran outside to see a monster that was as tall as a full grown man. It had black skin and red markings all over its body. Its eyes were all red and it was equipped with no weapons, just four inch long claws and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

The monster's eyes went to the cobalt hedgehog and it snarled. Sonic stepped back in fear because he had never seen anything like this before. The monster charged right at the group and they separated. But strangely, the creature only went after Sonic as it went in his direction.

"Why is it after me?" he thought. He started to panic as he ran from the monster. "Wait, why am I running? I don't run from danger, I fight it!"

Sonic then attacked the beast and landed a hit with his Homing Attack. Unfortunately, the attack didn't do squat. The monster then swiped at Sonic with its claws and he dodged the attack. He then tried again with his Light Speed Attack, but it dodged him and attacked again.

"But how?" he thought in wonder. The cobalt hedgehog was in shock that his attacks wouldn't hurt it. The monster then turned to Tails and charged at him. Sonic snapped to his senses when he saw the thing going to his best friend.

"TAILS!" he yelled. Then within a blur, the monsters arm was hacked off of its body and it screamed as its blood sprayed from the wound. Witnessing the whole thing Sonic was standing in front of Tails with a blue double-edge sword in his hand.

Sonic just stared at the creature as it did the same to him. The thing began to charge at him and Sonic brought sword up into a swinging position. The blade then began to glow an azure aura and he swung the sword.

"Sonic Wind Bisection!" he yelled as he did so and a wave of white-blue energy appeared from the swing and cut the monster in the center before it even got to him. The creature lay there in front to him, its blood covering the streets.

It then used the arm it had left on its body to crawl to Sonic, who just stood there without fear. He then charged at the creature and in one full swing, decapitated it, its head rolling away. The weirdo's body then turned white and shot up to the sky in a blast of energy, leaving behind a red crystal.

Sonic went up to the crystal and picked it up from the pool of blood. Sonic felt an unusual energy similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds. But the only difference was that the energy seemed to have a different purpose.

"What's this?" he asked. "That's one of the Lunar Emeralds," a voice spoke. Sonic looked up and saw an ice-blue female hedgehog on the roof of a nearby building. The hedgehog jumped down from the building and walked up to Sonic.

"Now, if you would please give it to me," she said. Sonic eyed her suspiciously. "And what if I say no?" The hedgehog only chuckled.

"Then we will have to fight for it," she said and then jumped back ten feet. She then created a katana of ice from her palm and got into a fighting position.

"The name's Krystal. Second in command of Zodiac," she introduced.

"I'm Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog. I am the hero of Mobius," said hero said.

"All right Sonic, prepare to lose!"

"Bring it!"

**Hey people! Just wanted to say that I changed a few things, giving the Akuma the ability to live unless decapitated or disintegrated. Just to let you know.**

**Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Black Sun**

**Chapter 3**

Me: The third chapter of my first story. And after like what, a week?

Sonic: Somewhere around that.

Me: Whatever. Care to do the honors?

Sonic: With pleasure. Nightmare the Dragon does not own Sonic and friends. We belong to SEGA. Nightmare only owns Zodiac and possible future characters.

Me: Let's get it on!

XXXXXXXX

"Now, show me what you've got!" the hedgehog named Krystal demanded. "Gladly!" Sonic yelled back. At the very start, Sonic charged at Krystal, but she over him and easily dodged his slice. She then froze the ground under a thick layer of ice and formed several ice pillars. Sonic was afraid that he would slip if he moved, but found that he was standing just fine.

"What the?" he muttered in confusion. "This ice is not like regular ice," Krystal said. "It has enough traction to keep you standing upright and allows you to run without slipping." Sonic was impressed by this.

"So she can use the power of ice," he thought. "And she did say she was Zodiac's second in command, so that must make her really powerful." Sonic thought carefully, and then he got a strategy for the battle.

Sonic charged at her again, but this time, she dodged to the right, using the ice to skate on. "So she can use her powers to skate on the ice while I run on it as if it were a race track," he thought. "This will make things a little more difficult."

Krystal smashed a pillar and sent the large pieces straight at Sonic. Sonic tried hard to dodge, but couldn't dodge them all. He got hit a couple of times, but quickly got back up. He kicked a chunk back at her, but she stopped them and sent them flying. Sonic was a foot away from her and he attacked. Their swords clashed into each other, stopping both of their movements. They held each other until Krystal shoved Sonic backwards. Sonic landed on his butt and saw that Krystal was going to attack.

Sonic rolled to the side and got back on his feet. He then focused his energy into his sword and let out his new attack. "Sonic Wind Bisection!" he yelled. The blade of hardened wind energy swept across the distance and hit Krystal in the middle, cutting her in half. But as it happened, Krystal's body shattered into little pieces of ice.

"An ice clone?" he said. He was not aware that the real Krystal was standing behind him. "Snow Storm Cannon," she said. Sonic turned around but was too late. A sphere of white energy hit him square in the chest and he was blasted to the other side of the ice rink. He tried to get up, but found himself frozen on his chest and arms.

Krystal rushed in to deal the final strike, but Sonic rolled to the side, avoiding certain defeat. Sonic immediately got an idea and put it to work. He waited until Krystal was within range and when the time was right, while Krystal was beginning to thrust, he dodged to the side, just to let the sword pierce the ice on his body. The frozen straight jacket shattered, and Sonic's arms were free.

"I'm impressed," Krystal said. "You used my power to destroy ice easily against me by destroying my frozen suit. Quite impressive." Sonic chuckled and went at her. She dodged and swung her sword. Sonic was wounded badly in his back, but he managed to get up. Krystal attacked again with an icicle, but Sonic dodged in time. But what he didn't realize was that the attack went straight for Tails!

"Ah!" Tails screamed in pain. Sonic whirled around to see Tails with an icicle stuck in his shoulder. He started to feel anger boiling inside him. "Dang," Krystal thought. "I didn't expect his friend to be there."

"You…" Sonic muttered. Krystal looked to see a black aura surrounding Sonic. "You MONSTER!" Sonic screamed as the aura flared. Standing in Sonic's place was a pitch black hedgehog wearing black shoes and white gloves. He had blank eyes. And by blank, I mean pupiless. The eyes alone began to frighten Krystal. The sword Sonic was holding also changed color, gaining a black blade. Sonic had transformed into Dark Sonic.

Dark Sonic rushed at Krystal. She barely had enough time to put her sword up in defense. Krystal began struggling to keep her guard up, but Dark Sonic's strength began to push her down. Sonic then kicked Krystal in the abdomen, and she was sent flying. Sonic then drove his sword into the ice and went after her.

Dark Sonic then released a flurry of rapid punches and kicks upon Krystal. She couldn't put her guard up to block any of the blows. Sonic kicked her into the air and use a double fisted blow to drive her to the ground. Sonic landed near his sword and pulled it from the ice. He started to make his way to Krystal.

"Please," she gasped, "spare me. I did not mean to hurt your friend. I swear it." Sonic only stared at her with his blank eyes. "Hurting my friend is just the thing to force me to kill you," he said raising his black sword. Krystal braced herself for the killing blow, but was saved when a black sphere of energy appeared and forced Dark Sonic back.

"Can you imagine?" a figure asked putting his hand down. It was quite obvious that he fired that blast. "Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius, taking out his anger by beating up a woman? You disgust me, Sonic."

Sonic charged right at him and swung his sword. The figure just raised his hand and caught the attack by the blade. "And this sword," he continued. "It has been tainted." The figure pulled Sonic's sword out of the hedgehog's hand and sliced the dark being across the chest.

The figure then grabbed Sonic's head and pumped a giant amount of dark energy into him. Sonic screamed in pain and was instantly reverted to his normal form. The figure dropped Sonic's sword next to said hedgehog and made his way to Krystal. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm badly bruised, but still alive," Krystal answered. The figure picked her up and she surprisingly stood up, as if she weren't badly hurt. Sonic struggled to get up, holding his arm to his chest to try and stop the bleeding. But being this wounded, he fell to his knees.

"Tell me," Sonic demanded, "Who are you?" The figure removed the cloak he was wearing, revealing his form. The figure was a black hedgehog with red markings near the ends of his eyes. Unlike Shadow, he didn't have red stripes on his quills, and he only had three of them. There were two long quills on the side of his head, and one center quill. On his back were two sets of three spines, making a total of six spines. His eyes were colored red, and looked more reptilian than normal.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the black hedgehog said. "I am Nightmare. Nightmare the Dragon." This confused Sonic by a large amount. "Dragon?" he asked. "You look more like a hedgehog than a giant lizard." The figure named Nightmare chuckled.

"I get that a lot," he said. "This is my sealed form. I can use my full power while my true self stays hidden away." Sonic glared at Nightmare and muttered words that were not understandable.

"Just wait you jerk," he growled. "I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget." He spin dashed at his adversary but was easily blocked. The next thing he noticed, he was sent flying by a burst of dark energy. "But how?" Sonic muttered.

"I have the power of darkness flowing through me," Nightmare explained. "Darkness is one of the most powerful gifts in existence, second that to the cosmos. Now, I'll be taking that Lunar Emerald from you." Nightmare raised his right hand and the Lunar Emerald Sonic was holding floated up from his quills and over to the dark warrior.

"What are you planning to do once you have all the Emeralds?" Sonic asked. Nightmare just looked at him.

"That information is trade secret," he said. "Told only to the top members of Zodiac. But I can tell you this; I must find them all by the Black Sun, or I will never fulfill my duty. Now I don't have time for games. Farewell!"

And with that, Nightmare and Krystal vanished in a burst of black flames. Sonic tried hard to stay conscious, but the amount of blood he lost was too much, and he passed out. Unaware to him, another figure was watching the whole thing.

Me: Well, now that's done.

Nightmare: Why did you name me after your pen name?

Me: I based you off of me, mainly my likes, dislikes, and personality.

Nightmare: Makes sense.

Sonic: So what's gonna be in the next chapter?

Me: You get to meet someone that will help you master your power.

Krystal: I see! That way Nightmare will have more of a challenge in a rematch with Sonic!

Me: Exactly! And before I forget, readers, if you're wondering what the Lunar Emeralds look like, just think of the crystals that were in the Crash Bandicoot games. That's what they look like. Well, anything you guys like to add?

Sonic: Nope.

Nightmare: I'm good.

Krystal: Nothing from me.

Me: Okay! With that in mind,

This is Nightmare the Dragon, Signing off!


	4. Chapter 4

**The Black Sun**

Me: Let's just cut to the chase. Sonic, time to do the disclaimer.

Sonic: Right. Nightmare the Dragon doesn't own Sonic. We are the sole property of Sega. Nightmare only owns Nightmare, Krystal, and other Zodiac members.

**Chapter 4**

The last thing Sonic remembered; him falling unconscious due to blood loss from Nightmare's attack. The next thing he knew; he wakes up in a house he wasn't in before, completely bandaged up. He saw that Tails was on the bed next to his. He sighed in relief that Tails was still alive.

"Where am I?" Sonic thought. "Who helped me? I'm grateful that he helped, but why?"

"You're awake," a voice spoke out. "Good. I was starting to get worried." Sonic looked up to see his dear friend, Blaze. The lavender cat walked down the stairs near a doorway and onto the floor Sonic was on.

Blaze has been Sonic's friend ever since they defeated the Eggmen twice. Ever since Blaze came to his dimension, the two of them have been GUN partners for three years. Sonic remembered it as if it were yesterday.

**Flashback**

"You want us to what?" Sonic asked in surprise. "Have you join GUN," Shadow answered. "We're a bit understaffed ever since the Black Arms invasion and we could really use you."

It was true that GUN lost some soldiers during the invasion, considering the fact that most of them were killed by Shadow. But, they let that go after Black Doom was defeated. "All right," Sonic said. "We'll join."

"Excellent," Shadow said. "But I almost forgot; you need to find a partner by tomorrow night." Sonic jolted back at this.

"What, tomorrow night?" Sonic asked. "How am I going to find a partner on such short notice?" All of a sudden, a bright flash filled the sky and someone dropped down from it and landed on Sonic. Along with the figure, seven jewels fell from the portal.

"I guess that answers your question," Shadow said trying to stifle back a chuckle. "Oh, what happened?" the figure asked.

"Mind getting off me?" Sonic asked. The figure looked down and saw that she was unintentionally sitting on him.

"OH! Sorry Sonic!" she said while getting off him. "Hey, how'd you know my name?" he asked. He then gasped to see that the figure was Blaze. He blushed slightly thinking that her butt was on him.

"Blaze!" he exclaimed. "How'd you get here?" "I'm not sure," she answered. "The Sol Emeralds were acting strange and somehow, I ended up here. I guess fate has brought me here for some reason."

"I think I know why," Shadow cut in. "Blaze, how would you like to become a GUN member?" "What?" Blaze asked. "Why?"

"GUN has been a little understaffed ever since an invasion some time ago and we need strong and/or smart Mobians to fill in the holes," Sonic explained. "Why is GUN understaffed?" Blaze asked.

"Ask him," Sonic said pointing at Shadow. "He was the one who killed the most GUN soldiers and Black Arms soldiers." Blaze stared at the black hedgehog in disbelief.

"Heh, that may be true," he said. "But I was the one who killed the leader of the Black Arms as well. GUN let me join after that." Blaze sweat dropped after hearing that.

"They let him in after all the people he's killed?" she thought. "I don't think that was bright. Oh well."

"Sure," she said. "I'll join. It's better than being cooped up in a castle for so long."

"Cool," Sonic exclaimed. "What do you say about being partners?" Blaze looked at him. "Partners?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sonic said. "We both need a partner by tomorrow." Blaze thought about it and accepted. "Okay. Let's get to home base," Shadow said. The trio made their way to GUN headquarters.

**End of Flashback**

"Good times," Sonic thought. He was glad that Blaze accepted his offer about being his partner. Truth is; Sonic has had a crush on Blaze ever since he first met her. They went through the toughest of missions together, watching over each other every second. During those times, he could feel him getting closer to the cat.

"I saw the whole thing, Sonic," Blaze said. "That demon, the sword fight, your defeat. I saw all of that right before me."

"My defeat?" Sonic thought. "Nightmare!" he exclaimed. "I have to find him. Whatever he wants to do with those Lunar Emeralds, It can't be good," He started to get out of bed, but was stopped short due to the wound he was inflicted with.

"Don't Sonic!" Blaze said in worry. "You're still weak from the amount of blood you lost. You have to stay in bed." Sonic hesitated for a moment but got into bed as he was told.

"You need plenty of rest Sonic," Blaze said. "We are looking into Nightmare and this Zodiac group we'll be dealing with. I'll let you know if we find anything." With that, Blaze pecked Sonic on his forehead and left the room. Sonic blushed after she left, feeling the heat in his cheeks.

Meanwhile, in an unknown area…

Nightmare was pacing the floor thinking on what to do. "That Sonic character," he thought. "He could be a little bit of a problem in our goal. I just hope he does not get in the way." There was a knock at the door of the room he was in.

"Come in," he said. Krystal walked in bowing to her superior. "Master Nightmare, we have located another Lunar Emerald," she informed.

"Excellent," Nightmare responded. "Where is its location?" "Sir, the Emerald is hidden in a top secret military base near the city of Westopolis," she said. "Who will you be sending to retrieve it?"

"Send in Mist," the leader commanded. "But tell me; what of the black hedgehog?"

"It seems that he has returned to the base after his mission," Krystal said. "Shall I send someone to stop him?" Nightmare looked at her.

"No," he said. "Send in someone to distract him. He would be as vexing as Sonic. Send Cronus in to challenge him until Mist collects the Emerald."

"Yes sir," Krystal said. "And Krystal," Nightmare said, "how are your wounds feeling?"

"They are fine, sir," she responded. She then left to send the desired elites to their assignments.

"Soon," he thought, "the Black Sun will be upon us. Once it comes, I will use the power of the Lunar Emeralds to fulfill my duty. The duty I promised my father all those years ago."

Me: Chapter four is done!

Everyone: Yeah!

Sonic: What will you put in next?

Me: I will have Blaze and Shadow battle the two Zodiac elites at different times. Blaze will fight Mist, while Shadow fights Cronus.

Sonic: Will Blaze be all right?

Me: Of course! I would never let one of the main stars die so early in the story.

Sonic: Okay.

Blaze: Sounds good to me.

Shadow: I'll be waiting for this Cronus.

Me: Glad to see that everyone is so lively! Anyway, see you readers next time!

Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!


	5. Chapter 5

**The Black Sun**

**Chapter 5**

Shadow was sitting on a park bench, thinking. He had just heard about Sonic's injury, and was thinking about who and how he did it. "Sonic's too fast for anyone to kill, let alone hurt," he thought. "Who was able to do it?"

He continued thinking until a call came in from base on his wrist com. "Shadow here," he said. "Shadow, get over here!" a panicked voice. "We've got trouble! Someone's attacking the base!"

Shadow closed the com line and used Chaos Control to get to the base, using the Chaos Emerald he snuck from Sonic while he was still unconscious. The moment he arrived, he saw a gray wolf with a black stripe going down his back. The wolf looked back and smirked as he saw Shadow.

"Well, I knew that you would come down here sooner or later," the wolf said. "I just didn't expect it to be so soon." Shadow just glared at the wolf. "Why are you doing this," Shadow demanded. The wolf laughed.

"Because," he answered. "I wish to fight you, Shadow." Shadow smirked after hearing that. "Okay," he said. "Let's do this!"

"Before I forget," the wolf said, "let me introduce myself. I am Cronus the Wolf, near elite of Zodiac."

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow said. "I am the Ultimate Lifeform." The two fighters jumped at each other and began to attack.

**Meanwhile, in the GUN base…**

Blaze was rushing to see what was going on. She saw that many of the soldiers were down, but just unconscious. She continued down the corridor and stopped as he saw what was causing all the trouble.

At the end of the corridor, there was what appeared to be a dark lavender cat holding a snow white crystal. "A Lunar Emerald!" Blaze thought. The cat at the other end turned and saw Blaze. There was something about her eyes that seemed familiar to Blaze.

"Blaze," the cat said. "My, it's been a while. How have you been?" Blaze just stared at the cat. "Have we met before?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm wounded, Blaze," the cat said. "Truly, how could you forget me?" Blaze just kept staring. "I admit," Blaze said, "that there is something familiar about your eyes, but everything else is unknown."

The cat sighed at this. "Oh well," she said. "I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later." The cat pulled out a round canister and pulled the pin out of the top. "Is that a grenade?" Blaze thought. The cat tossed the canister at Blaze, and a gas leaked out from the top.

"What is this," Blaze thought. "Why am I so… tired?" At that moment, Blaze passed out. The cat walked over to her and said, "Good night, Blazey." Just as she was about to leave, the cat felt a sharp pain in her head.

"That can't be good," she thought.

**Back outside…**

Shadow was fighting Cronus with valor, unwilling to give in. Two black and red ninjaken swords appeared in the middle of the fight, and he managed to wound Cronus in the back. But as he did so, the wound instantly healed.

"What?" Shadow exclaimed. The wolf chuckled at his expression. "Surprised, aren't you?" Cronus said. "I have the ability to manipulate time that is around me, but I cannot control time itself. I can mainly use it to turn back time around my wounds so I can heal quicker." Shadow smirked at this.

"So, I'm not the only one that can manipulate time," he said. Cronus looked confused. "But instead of explaining it," Shadow continued as he pulled out his Chaos Emerald, "maybe I should just show you." Shadow raised the Chaos Emerald over his head.

"Chaos Control!" he shouted. All of a sudden, time slowed down all around Shadow, and Cronus seemed to notice this. Shadow charged at the wolf and swung one of his swords, but Cronus took out his own sword and blocked the attack.

"You can use Chaos Control?" the wolf asked in amazement. He then smiled. "Impressive. I would like to see what you can do as well."

"I would be glad to oblige," Shadow answered. He put down both of his swords and brought his hand up. A yellow aura surrounded his hand as it charged up energy.

"Chaos," he began as the attack finished charging, "SPEAR!" A spear of compressed energy came flying at Cronus and hit him square in the chest. "Dang!" the wolf said. "If I get hit with any form of power from the Chaos Force, I won't be able to heal my wounds."

"That's not all," Shadow said. "I'm full of surprises. Behold the ultimate power!" Shadow removed his Inhibitor Rings and became surrounded in a red aura. Cronus knew what he was gonna do, so he put his sword in the ground and formed a shield around himself, in hopes at taking little to no damage from this devastating attack.

"Chaos," Shadow said as he expanded the red aura, "BLAST!" At that moment, an explosion of energy erupted from Shadow's location and hit the shield. After seconds of enduring, the blast faded and Cronus rose up.

"Impressive," the wolf said. "Now it's my turn." He brought his hands to each other and formed a ball of temporal energy. Shadow tried to prepare himself, but was too weakened from his power. He grabbed his swords and his Chaos Emerald and began to absorb its power. Shadow then stood up and put the energy of the Chaos Force into his swords, just as Cronus finished charging his attack.

"Temporal Cannon!" he shouted as he launched the attack. The ball came within inches of his face just as he used his most famous ability. "Chaos Control!" he said. Shadow then teleported behind his adversary and unleashed a brand new attack.

"Chaos Blade!" he shouted and swung his sword. A blade of compressed energy flew out of the sword and nearly hit Cronus as he brought his sword up to block it.

"Yes," Cronus thought. "He is the one. He has the blood we need." Cronus dispersed Shadow's attack only to find that Shadow himself was just a foot away from him. He didn't have time to put his guard up and Shadow's sword went right through his heart.

Cronus coughed up blood as Shadow pulled out his sword from his chest. "You have been a worthy adversary," Shadow said. "But I'm afraid it's over now." Cronus chuckled. "No," he said. "It is only the beginning." He brought his hand up and fired a ball of energy at the GUN base, but much to Shadow's surprise, it didn't explode.

"What did you do?" Shadow asked. "Tell me!" Cronus chuckled. "My ally now has the information I have on you and your power," he explained. "There is nothing you can do. She will escape, with the Lunar Emerald, and your data." At that moment, the wolf fell over and his breath went still.

Shadow went over to the wolf's body and closed his eyes. As he did so, he noticed a canister had landed next to him. A gas began to leak out from the top, and Shadow was then unconscious.

A figure walked up from behind and checked on Cronus' body. "Dear friend," she said as a tear streamed from her eye. She picked up the body and disappeared in a blast of fire.

**Zodiac Base…**

The Best of Zodiac's warriors went to see their fallen warrior be transferred into a Spirit Crystal. The crystal was then taken to a vault of Spirit Crystals and was placed on a newly built shrine that said, "Cronus the Wolf. May he never be forgotten."

The dark lavender cat went up to Nightmare and got his attention. "Ah, Mist," Nightmare said. "What timing. I was just about to send for you." Mist looked down at the ground. "Master, I'm sorry," she said.

"What are you sorry for?" Nightmare asked. Mist just kept staring at the floor. "It's my fault that Cronus is gone. If I had been there earlier, then I would've been able to save him." Nightmare looked at her and raised her head to look at him.

"Cronus died as a great warrior," he said. "But you were able to bring his body, along with the data of Shadow's power, and the Lunar Emerald. Thanks to that, we now have two, and I am willing to reward you."

"But Master," Mist said. "I cannot accept any reward. I don't deserve it." The leader just looked at her. "If you complete your mission and more, then you do deserve a reward. And since you brought Cronus back to us for his "burial," you are free to choose your reward." Mist thought hard, and then got an idea for a reward.

"I just have one thing on my mind," she said. "I wish to be entitled with my true name."

"And just what is your true name, may I ask," Nightmare said. The cat looked him straight in the eye and answered, "Cynder."

"Very well," Nightmare said. "From this day forth, you shall now be referred to as: Cynder the Cat. Now, Krystal!" The ice blue hedgehog came up to the leader. "Yes sir," she said in an instant.

"I need you to call in Cobra," he said. "We have found the final ingredient for the project. Speaking of which, how is the progress?"

"The ashes have been added to the project sir, giving him the knowledge of how to use the full force of the power of Chaos," Krystal said. "So we just need the blood of a being that can access the Chaos Force."

"Which is why we need Cobra," Nightmare explained. "He will be able to get the blood we need."

Whew, now that's done. Sorry I haven't updated the last couple of days. My family wanted to spend some vacation time together. But I'm back now. I am falling behind on my other story, so I have to work on that before I can continue on my other chapters.

Please remember to review when you're done reading. Also, here are the bios on some of the members of Zodiac, except Cronus, since he's dead now. I've been meaning to get them done for a long time.

**Nightmare the Dragon**

Age: unknown

Power: Darkness

Description: Being the leader of Zodiac, he takes his duty seriously. He won't let anyone stand in his way and will do anything to fulfill his goal. Currently taking on the form of a hedgehog, he hides his true power within himself until he truly needs it.

**Krystal the Hedgehog**

Age: 17

Power: Ice

Description: Zodiac's second in command. She is Nightmare most trusted elite and the strongest as well, just under the leader himself. She dislikes being cooped up in base and prefers to be out in the action, even if it means having to disobey Nightmare's orders.

**Cynder the Cat**

Age: 18

Power: unknown for now

Description: Formally known as Mist, Cynder is one of Zodiac's greatest elites. Even though Nightmare says it isn't her fault, she feels regret due to the death of her good friend, Cronus. Has a strange connection to Blaze the cat.

Well that's all for now.

Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!


	6. Chapter 6

**The Black Sun**

**Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: You already know the drill. I don't own Sonic, only the OCs in this story. Blah, blah, blah.**

**Zodiac Base**

Nightmare was sitting at the table in the briefing room of his HQ when a call came in. "Sir, Cobra has just arrived," the voice said. "Send him in," Nightmare responded. The door on the other side of the room opened and in stepped a blackish purple snake. His eyes were a golden yellow and had a serpentine slit.

"Cobra," Nightmare said with welcoming arms. "Nightmare," the snake said with the same kind of arms. The two embraced each other in a brotherly hug and went to the table.

"So," Cobra began hissing, "you have another mission for me, have you?" Nightmare chuckled. "Of course, old friend," he replied. "What would I call you for other than a mission? Parties?"

"Yes," the snake said, "yes you would." The two laughed at the joke. "Anyway," Nightmare began, "this mission is of most importance."

"What is it that you wish of me," Cobra asked. "Another assassination?" Nightmare shook his head. "No, I need you," he began, "to collect the blood of the Ultimate Lifeform."

"Well," Cobra began, "That is quite the favor. The price will not be cheap." Nightmare looked at the snake. "How much would you like?" he asked. The cobra looked at him firmly. "100, 000 rings," he said. It was apparent that Nightmare did not agree with this price.

"50, 000 rings," he offered, but Cobra refused. "80,000."

"I'll go with 75,000 rings," Nightmare said. "But I will not go any higher." Cobra chuckled. "Deal," he said. After sealing the deal, Nightmare began the briefing.

"Now, you already know the gist of the mission," he began, "but there are some things for you to know. First, when you collect the blood, place it in this vial," he places a vial in front of Cobra on the table. "Second, be careful. Some of his allies, including Sonic, are very powerful. You will have to get him alone. And finally, this is not an assassination. If he dies from blood loss, then that will be that, but it is best to keep him alive. He would be a perfect test subject for the projects result."

"Shall I bring him here?" Cobra asked. "No," Nightmare answered. "That would only lead them to our base, and we do not want that. Get his blood, but leave Shadow's body be."

"Very well," Cobra said. "I will have the blood before the week is over." Cobra rose from his seat and went off to fulfill his mission. "Good luck, King Cobra."

**GUN Base**

Three days have passed since the break-in, and fortunately, there were no casualties. Everyone was just unconscious for quite some time. Shadow was standing outside the base pondering what Cronus said.

"It is only the beginning." Those words kept buzzing in his head like a hive of angry hornets. "What did he mean by that?" he thought. "No, scratch that. I already know something's coming. But what did he mean when he said that I'm the one?"

"Hey, Shadow!" a voice shouted from behind. The black hedgehog turned to see Sonic running up to him. He certainly was a fast healer.

"What is it?" Shadow asked with slight anger. "The commander wants us to come to the briefing room," Sonic said. "He said it was important." Shadow nodded his head and the two went for the briefing room.

When they entered, all of the others were there. All of their friends and their partners. Knuckles had Shade as a partner when he joined, hoping that GUN would help protect the master emerald. Tails had Cosmo after she returned from the dead about a year ago. Sonic had Blaze, of course. And finally, Shadow had Rouge for a partner, considering they were working together for six years.

"Good, everyone's here," the commander said. "Now to get to business. We received a call not too long ago and the caller asked for Shadow to hear this." The commander pressed a button and the recorded message played.

"Shadow the Hedgehog," a snake like voice hissed. "I have two of your friends here with me, a silver hedgehog and a pink hedgehog. Don't believe me? Well hear this." There were then cries for help from two familiar voices. "Listen closely, because I will only say this once," the voice hissed. "Come to the Snowpack Zone at 9:00 tonight. Come alone. If you don't, your friends will die." The voices owner then laughed and hung up.

Everyone was shocked at this. "He's got Amy and Silver!" Sonic exclaimed. "We have to go save them!" He was about to charge out the door, but Blaze stopped him before he could take a step. "Don't Sonic," the cat said. "If you go then they are sure to die. We need a plan."

"We don't need one," Shadow said. Everyone looked at him. "What do you mean?" Tails shouted. "They're our friends and you're going to let them die?"

"That's not what I mean," Shadow shouted. "I mean I'm going to do as he says. I'm going to the Snowpack Zone at 9 pm alone."

"But Shadow," Cosmo said. "You could die if you go."

"I have no choice! I-!" Just then, the phone rang and the operator spoke in. "Sir, the same caller from before wishes to speak with Shadow," she said.

The commander looked at Shadow as he came to the phone and said, "Patch him through." The same snake voice came in. "Shadow the Hedgehog?" it asked.

"I'm here," Shadow responded. "What do you want?" There was a slight chuckle. "No need to get so angry," the snake said. "I just want to strike a deal. If you come alone at the very place and time, I will let your friends go." Shadow wasn't going to believe it.

"Do you mean that?" he asked. "Yes," the voice said. "I mean it."

"Then I'll be there," Shadow answered. "Just you wait for me." Shadow then hung up. "Now we need a plan."

**Snowpack Zone**

Shadow came to the very place the voice said. Once he made it, he saw Amy and Silver tied up and hanging over a pool of ice cold water. "If the person lets them drop," Shadow thought, "they won't last three minutes in that water." Sonic and Blaze were on the top of a nearby cliff to make sure things went well, as according to Shadow's plan.

"So you came," the same voice said from the shadows. "I am glad. I was afraid you wouldn't show up." Just then, a blackish purple snake appeared in front of the pool and looked at Shadow. Shadow just glared at the snake.

"Feeling silent today," the snake said. "No matter. You came at the right time and the right place."

"Yeah, I'm here," Shadow said. "Now let them go." The snake glared back and said, "Well, since you asked so nicely." He then took out a knife and threw it at the rope holding them up. Amy and Silver began to plummet to the pool.

"NO!" Shadow yelled. He raised his hand up and yelled out, "CHAOS CONTROL!" And then, the two hedgehogs were teleported over firm ground. "Get out of here," Shadow said.

"No way, Shadow," Silver said. "I'm going to help you!" Shadow glared at Silver and told him to get away again. This time, Silver did as told, recognizing that it wasn't a request. It was an order. Shadow looked back at the snake as it laughed.

"So the reports were true," it said. "You do have what they need." Shadow kept staring at the snake. "Please forgive me," the snake said. "I've forgotten my manners. I am King Cobra, but everyone refers to me as Cobra."

Shadow smirked at this and said, "Glad you told me. Because now I can put that on your tombstone." Shadow then charged at Cobra and swung his fist only to hit the snow. Cobra had dodged to the side and landed a blow across Shadow's face with his long tail. Shadow then skated up to the snake and landed a blow to his abdomen, but was shocked to see that it barely did anything.

"Heh, you call that a hit?" Cobra mocked. "This is a real hit!" Cobra then drove a powerful kick to Shadow's gut and the hedgehog bent down. A needle appeared from Cobra's sleeve and bent down to pierce Shadow when he was shot upward from a powerful uppercut.

"Heh, you thought that finished me?" Shadow mocked. "How Pathetic." He went to Cobra's location only to see that he was gone. All of a sudden Shadow was hit in the back of the head. He spun around to find that there was nothing there. He was hit again, and he spun to end up with the same result.

"Surprised?" Cobra said from nowhere. "I have the ability to blend into my surroundings, making me completely invisible." Shadow looked around then had an idea. He looked directly at the ground and found footprints being pressed down in the snow. He swung his fist in that direction and got Cobra in the face.

"Blast," Cobra muttered. "You were able to find me by using the snow to your advantage. That was very clever." Shadow smirked and charged at the snake. He rammed into Cobra and tackled him to the ground. Cobra kneed him in the gut and got him off.

They kept dealing each other blows, one after the other, until Shadow decided to wrap this up. He removed his inhibitor rings and prepared for his most powerful attack.

"Chaos Blast!" he shouted and released all of his Chaos Energy. He then looked around for Cobra and but couldn't find anything. He sighed in relief but was then struck in the back of the head and landed in snow. He tried to get back up, but was forced back down from someone's foot. That foot was Cobra's.

"You actually thought I would die that easily?" he mocked. "It's a mystery on how you survive." The needle from before came out from his sleeve and he pierced Shadow in the back of his shoulder. Shadow could feel his blood being drained every second.

After an agonizing minute, Cobra pulled out the needle and said, "Mission complete." Using his serpentine eyes, he checked to see if Shadow was still alive. And sure enough, he was.

Cobra then flew off up the cliffs and out of the zone. Sonic and Blaze went to Shadow and were relieved to find out that he lived. They picked him up and went to meet Amy and Shadow. After a discussion, Sonic took out a Chaos Emerald and used Chaos Control to return to base.

**Zodiac Headquarters**

"The mission was successful, sir," Cobra said as he offered Nightmare the blood. Said dragon accepted the vial of blood. "Very good, Cobra," he said. "Your reward is in the vault. I'm sure you know the combination."

"Yes, sir," Cobra answered. He went to collect his reward and Nightmare went to the labs. In the center of the room was a cylinder filled with a fluid with a figure inside.

"I have the blood," Nightmare said. One of the scientists turned to him and took the blood. "Good," the scientist said. "Now we can complete the project. But before we begin, there's something I should tell you."

The scientist told Nightmare about a little error they made when injecting the ashes into the project. Nightmare smirked and said, "That does not matter. That little flub will only make things better. It will make him stronger."

The scientist inserted the blood into the machine around the cylinder, and it was injected into the figure itself. After moments, the injection was complete and the figure was whole.

The cylinder was drain of the fluid and it opened. Inside was a medium sized wolf with black fur and crimson stripes on his legs, arms and back. Nightmare stroked his chin.

"He has the very likeness of Shadow, mainly in his fur," he said. "But that does not matter. What is important is that he will be useful in finding the remaining Lunar Emeralds."

Nightmare walked up to the wolf and looked at it in the eye. "Welcome," he said. My name is Nightmare, and I am to be your master." The wolf nodded its head and said, "Yes Master." Nightmare smirked. "What is your name?" he asked. The wolf thought hard and said, "Drive."

All right. Here is Cobra's bio

**King Cobra**

**Age: 23**

**Favorite food: grilled foods**

**Desc: Despite his name, King Cobra is not royalty. He has the ability to blend into his surroundings to turn him invisible, making him the perfect assassin. Nightmare calls him in to take care of missions that would require an assassin's experience. Despite being the cold-blooded reptile he is, Cobra does not need external heat sources to stay active for who knows how long, even in cold enviroments. No one knows why, but they are bound to find out. He is competely loyal to the person who hires him, doing his instructions without failure.**

That's all for now.

Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!


	7. Chapter 7

**The Black Sun**

**I don't own Sonic, only Zodiac. End of story (hypothetically speaking).**

**Chapter 7**

Shadow recovered after three days of rest. He was angry for losing to a no-good snake. But why did he need Shadow's blood? No-one in GUN knew why. But they do know that they will find out.

"Shadow, report to the briefing room," the commander called on the PA. Shadow walked all the way to the room the commander wanted him. Sonic was there as well, along with his partner Blaze. "I wonder what's going on here," Shadow thought.

"Thank you all for coming," the commander said. "Today, we have someone here that has knowledge of the murders."

"What?" Sonic said. "Murders?" Shadow asked just as confused. "I never knew about that." The commander slapped his forehead, knowing he forgot to tell them the reports.

"How silly of me," he said. "I never told you the reports. There have been a large number of murders, the victims terribly messed up. It's been all over the news. Now, we have someone who will tell us about the murders and the ones responsible. Sonic, Blaze, and Shadow, meet Stone."

A grey armadillo walked up to the table and said, "Hello everyone. As your commander has said, my name is Stone the Armadillo. I know the ones who are responsible for the murders."

"Is it Zodiac?" Sonic accused. Stone shook his head. "No, it is not Zodiac," he said. "It may not look like it, but I was once a member of Zodiac."

"What!" everyone exclaimed. "You were a member of Zodiac?" Stone nodded and said, "Yes, and I was there long enough to know that everyone in Zodiac would not kill, unless forced to. But that's not the point. What is the point are the murders. And the ones who are responsible."

Everyone leaned in closer, anticipation filling the room. "The murderers are creatures of the night, that were sealed away centuries ago," Stone began. "They are called the akuma."

Sonic froze in place from hearing the name. "Is that the name of the creature that attacked Spagonia?" he thought. Stone noticed Sonic's reaction. "You saw one, have you not?" he asked. Sonic nodded slowly and told Stone about what happened when it attacked.

"So, you were able to kill an akuma grunt," Stone said. "That is very interesting. You also said that you were able to do it with an upgraded version of your Sonic Wind ability. That must mean that you were gifted with the power of wind.

"But let's get down to more important matters. The akuma are after only one thing: power. They get their power by killing enemies and/or innocents. They will stop at nothing until they gain enough power to release their master. An evil being, called by many as Apocalypse. They must be stopped.

"I will gladly train you in using your powers for combat and train you for swordsmanship. Blaze and Shadow will be training with you, along with any others that have developed any abilities."

Sonic gave Stone his usual cocky grin. "You can count me in, Stone," he said. "As will I," Blaze said. "As long as I find a real challenge, unlike that cowardly cobra, I'm in," Shadow said.

"Excellent," Stone said. "Training will begin tomorrow morning, 6 am sharp." Everyone nodded and they were excused.

**Zodiac Arena**

There was a large tournament held to see where the newest member, Drive, would be in the ranks. Drive easily defeated the preliminary opponents and the first five elites with some difficulty. His next opponent was Krystal, the strongest elite in Zodiac's ranks, next to Nightmare.

Drive was standing on one side of the arena while Krystal was on the other. "Krystal's power is ice," Drive thought. "She can control the areas she freezes so the ice is either slippery or firm. I will have to be careful."

Nightmare called out the signal and the two fighters began. Krystal froze the arena and put it to her advantage. Drive shook it off as soon as she finished, knowing the ice had enough friction for him to stand. He then fired multiple spears at Krystal, but she dodged them all. She swung her katana and Drive blocked her attack.

Drive attempted to kick her, but she rolled to the side and sent her own kick. Drive blocked and threw a right hook, which nearly hit Krystal, but still missed her. Krystal was about to use her katana when Drive vanished and reappeared behind her.

Drive raked Krystal's face when she turned, but was caught off guard when he realized it was a clone. Krystal then dropped down on him and tackled him. Drive wrestled with Krystal until he kicked her in the gut. Krystal flew off, but stood straight up when she landed.

"She must be wearing some kind of ice armor," Drive thought. "Very clever." Krystal began to skate towards Drive and attacked. Drive teleported and threw a right hook. Drive then had an idea. If he could keep teleporting, then he might have an advantage. He began to teleport so much, that there seemed to be many copies of himself.

Krystal looked left and right to try and find out where Drive would end up. Krystal then closed her eyes and focused. She tried to focus on his aura. The aura he gives off when he is about to reappear. And in one moment, Krystal sent a wave of ice in one direction and it hit Drive in the chest.

Drive was frozen all around his torso and couldn't move his arms. Krystal ran up to him and delivered two kicks to his chest, forcing him down. The next moment, Krystal's sword was right at his neck. That brought an end to the match.

Krystal freed Drive from the ice and they went up to Nightmare's private booth. Drive kneeled at his master's feet on one leg. "I'm sorry, Master," Drive said. "I have failed you. Punish me in any way you desire."

Nightmare chuckled and said, "Now why would I punish you, Drive? You have done well."

"But, Master," the black wolf started, "I lost. I failed you, Master."

"You did not fail me," Nightmare said. "This tournament was designed to see where you will stand among our ranks. And you have made it to the near highest rank among the elites. You will be Zodiac's newest Number III. Also, I am thinking that we need to change your name. Drive sounds a bit strange."

"Yes, Master," the wolf said. "What shall I be named as?" Nightmare thought hard and finally, he had one.

"Dusk," he said. "You will now be known as Dusk the Wolf."

**Wow! What a chapter. A bit shorter that usual, but that doesn't matter. Please review. Leave any ideas you have in your comments as well. Also, be on the look-out for an upcoming story called: Sonic the Hedgehog in: Curse of the Black Emerald. It is a story based off of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Keep an eye out for it.**

**I just edited this document to change the name of the demons in the story. I thought a japanese term would sound more fitting. Actually, I did it twice! The first didn't fit, the second was a mouthful, and the third may be used before, but it fits.**

**Also, I changed the number of elites to five because I can only think of seven elites.**

**Nightmare the Dragon, signing off.**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Black Sun**

**I don't own Sonic, just Zodiac.**

Sorry for not posting in so long. Things have been crazy for the past week.

**Chapter 8**

Sonic and his friends followed Stone to a special area for training. Blaze was anxious because she knew that Sonic had to train, but why her also? Does she also have a weapon with in her?

"This is the place," Stone said. The group stopped and looked around. At first, it was just an empty field. Then stone dummies appeared from the earth when Stone slammed his fist upon the ground.

"You will first start by learning how to summon your weapons," Stone said. Everyone looked at the armadillo in confusion. Stone answered by saying, "Your weapons come from within your heart. In order to use it, you must first summon it. These dummies will be useful in doing so."

All of a sudden, the dummies began to move and were about to attack. Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze attacked the dummies and destroyed them. But just as they were destroyed, they got back up again.

"What?" Sonic whispered. "They're back up?" Stone chuckled and he said, "You need to use your weapons to defeat them entirely. Otherwise they cannot be defeated."

"Now you tell us!" Shadow said. The three attacked again, but came up with the same result. "This is going to be a long session," Sonic thought.

**Meanwhile…**

"We have found another Lunar Emerald," a Zodiac agent said. "It is in an area where there is a lot of elemental energy. Earth energy."

Nightmare smiled and said, "It must be Stone. Excellent. Krystal, call in Dusk and Cynder. We will be taking a field trip. So to speak."

"Can't I come along, Nightmare?" Krystal asked. The hedgehog shaped dragon looked at her and said, "No, Krystal." She pouted after hearing that and said, "But everyone else gets to go. I want to have some fun too."

Nightmare glared at Krystal and said, "I don't want to hear anymore of this! The last time you went out without my permission, you got seriously injured! You can consider it lucky that I came in to save you. I expect you to follow my orders. Now go get Dusk and Cynder!"

"Yes sir," Krystal said. The ice-blue hedgehog took off from the room to call in the two elites. As she did, Nightmare held his head. "Sometimes I don't know what goes on in that girl's head." He shook off the thought and said, "No matter. Soon we will have all the Lunar Emeralds. And we will finally be able to complete the promise I made to my father."

**Back with the crew…**

Sonic, Shadow and Blaze continued battling the stone dummies, but kept on getting the same result; the dummies would just get back up when they knocked them down.

"This is impossible," muttered Shadow. "No matter what we do, they just don't die."

"If we want to win," Sonic said, "we need to summon our weapons. The problem is how?" The three pondered while trying to fend off the dummies. "Stone said that the weapons come from the heart," said Blaze. "We have to find a way to get into our hearts."

The two hedgehogs nodded and continued to fight. Things went bad shortly when a dummy hit Sonic in the gut and he coughed up blood. "This is not good," he thought. Sonic tried to get up, but was too weak from the attack. Shadow tried to fend his dummy while Blaze was cornered by two.

The two dummies attacked Blaze and dealt many blows to her. Blaze sunk to the ground and a dummy prepared a final blow.

"Blaze!" Sonic yelled out. Then all of a sudden, everything froze. Things started to turn grey and a figure appeared out of nowhere. The figure went up to Sonic and stood before him.

"Are you ready to wield me?" the figure asked. Sonic was confused and the figure spoke again. "Are you ready to wield me?" Sonic realized that the figure was his weapon.

"Yes," he said. "I'm ready." The figure looked at Sonic and spoke again. "Then if you are, you must answer my question."

Sonic looked at the figure as it spoke its question. "What do you intend to do with my power?" Sonic answered saying, "To stop Zodiac from whatever plot they're hatching."

The figure shook his head and spoke. "That is not your real reason," it said. "Answer truthfully, what do you intend to do with my power?" Sonic thought and knew his answer.

"Blaze," he said. "I want to protect Blaze!" The figure smiled then transformed into a blue double-edge sword. "Then you are ready," it said. Sonic reached up for the hilt and a bright flash appeared.

The last thing Blaze saw was a stone fist aimed right at her. Then within seconds, the stone dummy was sent back. Standing before her was Sonic, holding a cobalt sword and surrounded by a billowing aura.

Sonic brought his sword up and it was charged with energy and he began a new attack. A cyclone started t stir around Sonic and it expanded to an incredible size. And within minutes, the dummies were sliced into dust.

"Incredible," Blaze gasped. "I never thought that Sonic had such strength." Stone clapped his hands and smiled. "Well done Sonic," he said. "You were able to call your weapon and its power. And all within the first day as well. I'm impressed."

He turned to the armadillo and Blaze noticed that Sonic's appearance changed. Most of his quills had disappeared leaving one lone quill. Everyone noticed this change, even Sonic.

"What happened to my quills?" Sonic asked. Stone answered saying, "You haven't reached the fifth Level yet." Everyone looked at him in confusion and he continued.

"There are a total of five levels," he said. "Right now, you're all at Level 1, which means that you have a lot to learn until your level increases. Level 2 is where you start learning how to use your powers without trouble. Once you reach Level 3, you start learning how to use your powers outside of battle. Level 4 fighters learn more ways of gaining power from his surroundings. And finally, Level 5 is where you are at your strongest. You no longer require training and you will gain ultimate power of your element.

"Depending on the Level of a fighter, his appearance will change. You're at Level 1, so you have only one quill, which shows in male hedgehogs."

"But what about females?" Blaze asked. Stone said, "Females are harder to determine to figure out, since most just have long hair. Instead, girls have special tattoos that appear on the back of your best hand. The higher your level, the higher the number is on your mark."

"Okay," Shadow said. "But what about the weapons? Are they always swords?"

"No," Stone answered. "The weapon the fighter uses varies. It can range from swords to knives to clubs to any weapon that is mainly used in close combat. Swords are the most common, but the rarest swords are the transformable weapons."

Sonic was about to ask, but Stone answered before he could. "Transformable weapons," he started, "are kind of like Swiss army knives, only deadlier. They can transform into any weapon the wielder can think of. Therefore, they are very powerful, so they are very rare.

"The weapons appearance also depends on the wielders Level, along with their strength. The higher levels get stronger abilities and powers. But we'll talk about that later. Shadow and Blaze, you both have to get your weapons so we can continue. Come back here tomorrow morning, same time as last time. As the high school teacher would say, class dismissed.

The group left the field and went back to GUN base.

**A/N: There's chapter 8 people. Hope you liked it. Now there are a couple things I want to talk about.**

**For starters, this story hasn't been getting very many reviews like my other story. And if no-one tells me what they think, I get the feeling that you don't care about it. So, as of today, I won't be posting the next chapter. But don't get your pants in a bunch just yet. I will do more chapters when I get more reviews. At least three authors that haven't commented me yet. If I get that or more, I'll post the next chapter. If not, then it will be a long wait.**

**Now for the second part. I have a challenge for anyone who has a deviant art account. If you like this story, then I want you to show it! To do so, I'm going to hold a contest to see which readers can make the best drawing of my character, Nightmare the Dragon. Here is the list of what Nightmare looks like. Follow the instructions carefully.**

**Species: Dragon**

**Form: Hedgehog**

**Color: Midnight Black**

**Eyes: Dark red and snake like  
**

**Current No. of Quills: Three**

**Spines on Back: Two sets of three (Six spines total)**

**Characteristics: Ancient markings behind his eyes**

**Weapon: Transformable Sword (Spoiler Alert!)**

**Personality: Serious, calm, collected**

**Well that's all I can think of. Remember, the best artists will be decided by how cool the sketch looks, and by how well the artist followed the details.**

**Send me a message or post it on YouTube so I can see it.**

**Until then, Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Black Sun**

**I don't own sonic, blah blah blah.**

**Chapter 9**

After hours of training, the three fighters had finally got their weapons. Sonic's cobalt double edge blade, Shadow's ebony ninjaken swords, and Blaze got twin swords with three reddish orange blades (similar to the twin bladed energy swords from Halo).

"Excellent," Stone said. The three Mobians looked at him and smiled. Shadow ended up with a similar hairdo as Sonic, his quill was still the same style, but was alone. Blaze's appearance hadn't changed, but like Stone said, she got a Roman numeral tattoo on the back of her right hand, which happened to be her best hand.

"Now that you have achieved in obtaining your weapons, we will now start your training," the armadillo said. "We will start with basic close combat."

Everyone nodded their heads and began to listen. They learned from basic slices and stabs, to more complicated movements. Stone was very impressed on how fast they were learning because within minutes, they had mastered swordsmanship.

"I'm impressed," he said. "You have mastered everything I know on close combat and are now ready for the next lesson." Suddenly, a shriek erupted from the trees and a black skinned monster in the shape of a werewolf appeared from a shrub.

"Shoot!" Sonic exclaimed. "Another one of those demons." The monster came at the four warriors and attacked only to hit nothing but air. Sonic was about to attack the creature, but Stone stopped him.

"No, Sonic," he said. "That thing is very dangerous and you have just started your training. If you fight this thing now, you could die." Sonic just looked at Stone and said, "I don't care if I just started. I'm always ready for a challenge. This guy is dead meat."

Sonic, along with Blaze and Shadow, then attacked the monster head on. The creature received multiple wounds but kept fighting, eventually hitting Shadow when his back was turned. Sonic was about to attack to save his friend but the demon anticipated his movements and raked him across the side with its claws.

The demon was about to finish the job when Blaze suddenly appeared and drove her blades into the monster's chest. The creature's blood sprayed out of the wounds from the battle and it turned into a bright light that shot up to the sky, leaving behind a white crystal.

"That's one of the Lunar Emeralds," Stone said. He picked up the crystal and looked at it. Every one then looked at him and the Emerald. Everyone just stood there until they heard a voice.

"I must say, I'm impressed." The group turned around to the source and standing on a nearby cliff was a black hedgehog along with a black and red wolf and a violet cat.

"Nightmare!" Sonic exclaimed. The dragon smirked that Sonic remembered his name. "Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog," he said. "My, you have changed a bit. Did you do something with your hair?" The other two chuckled at the crude joke and Sonic snapped.

"What do you want this time," he demanded. Nightmare looked at him and said, "What else? The Lunar Emerald. We detected its energy signature along with some earth energy. We got the idea that Stone would be there, and we were right."

"There is no way I will let you have it," Stone shouted. "The only way you'll get it is if you pry it from my cold dead fingers!" Nightmare chuckled again.

"It may sound gross," he said, "but it is doable!" The dragon rose up his hand and shot a blast of dark energy at the armadillo. The Lunar Emerald flew up into the air and was going towards Nightmare when Sonic jumped up and caught it.

"How about this?" he said. "We'll have a tournament for the Emerald. We both have three players, so we'll have a three on three battle. The side that defeats all three fighters will be the winner."

Nightmare smirked and said, "Very well." They spread apart to create a battle field and chose their first fighters.

"I will choose Dusk to go first," said Nightmare. The black and red wolf now known as Dusk stepped up. "All right, then I guess I'll go with Shadow," Sonic replied. The black hedgehog stepped up and the battle began.

Shadow sent a dozen Chaos Spears at Dusk but the wolf blocked them all with some sort of energy wall. Dusk then raised his hand and sent a dozen red energy spears back at Shadow. "How did he do that?" Shadow thought. "That was a Chaos Spear. Only I am able to do that."

Shadow dashed at the wolf but Dusk disappeared and reappeared behind Shadow. "He can use Chaos Control too?" he thought.

Sonic and Blaze were watching the whole thing. "How is he able to use Shadow's abilities?" Sonic asked. Blaze just shrugged and said, "Maybe he also has access to the Chaos Force." Sonic shook his head.

"No," he said. "That's not possible. Shadow is the only one in existence that can use Chaos Control without the aid of a Chaos Emerald. Something's up about that wolf."

They continued watching Shadow fight the wolf and saw something surprising; Dusk then used a spiral of red wind that sent Shadow flying.

"That's my Sonic Wind attack," Sonic exclaimed. Blaze finally put two and two together and came up with the answer. "I know why," she said. "He must have the ability to copy everyone else's powers."

"If that's true, then Shadow's in a lot of trouble," Sonic said.

Shadow kept on fighting no matter how tired he was. Dusk on the other hand didn't seem to show any signs of weakness. "I'm gonna have to end this now," he thought. The then took of his inhibitor ring and became cloaked in a red aura.

Dusk just stared and prepared himself for the worst. Shadow crossed his arms over his face and attacked. "CHAOS BLAST!" he shouted as he released his most powerful attack. The red shockwave spread over twenty meters and then faded away.

Shadow looked up after he placed back on his rings but was in shock at what he saw. Dusk was still standing there without a scratch. "Guess it's my turn now," the wolf said. He raised his hand and a mass of blackish purple energy formed in his palm.

"Chaos Destruction!" he said as the mass flew at Shadow and exploded. When the smoke cleared, Shadow was lying on the ground in a heap, but was still alive.

"Shadow!" Sonic and Blaze shouted. Nightmare clapped his hands as Dusk returned to his master. "Well done, Dusk," he said. "You have made me proud."

"Thank you, Master," the wolf replied. After the two remaining heroes moved Shadow's body, Nightmare chose his next fighter.

"Cynder," he said. "You're up now." The violet cat nodded and stepped forward.

"I'll take care of this," Blaze said. Sonic was hesitant, but he nodded his head and Blaze stepped up.

"So your name is Cynder, is it?" Blaze asked. Cynder nodded and the two looked at each other.

"Why is she so familiar?" Blaze thought. "Her name, her eyes, everything seems familiar." She shook the thought off and began the fight.

Blaze sent fireballs at Cynder but was blocked by the violet cat's own fireballs. "So she has pyrokinesis as well," she thought. "Another thing that's familiar." The two kept on fighting but Blaze was getting tired fast. She brought her hands together and shouted, "Flames of Hope!" Bright orange flames erupted from the ground and came right at Cynder. The fires hit the ground but Cynder was in the air when they did.

"Flame of Sorrow," she said as blue flames came from her hands and towards Blaze. Said cat didn't have time to react for the flames hit her and she was knocked unconscious.

"Blaze, no!" Sonic shouted. Nightmare chuckled and said, "Now it's two to zero."

Sonic collected Blaze's body and placed her next to Shadow. He was glad that she was still alive, but he was angry that she got hurt like this. "Now it's my turn," he thought.

Nightmare and Sonic stepped up and began to fight. They both drew their swords and clashed them together. Bright sparks flew as the two blades collided.

"I will kill you, Nightmare," Sonic growled. Nightmare simply answered saying, "Sounds a little bit too dark for you to do. Are you up to the task?"

The two kept of clashing until Nightmare jumped up and his sword turned completely black and transformed into a shuriken. Sonic was shocked to see that Nightmare had a transformable weapon.

Nightmare threw the shuriken at Sonic but the blue hedgehog dodged it and sent a Sonic Wind attack at his adversary. Nightmare dodged the attack as his weapon then transformed into a small sword that was shaped like a dragon wing.

"How were you and your friends ever able to last this long?" he asked. "You three are so weak." Sonic snapped and his fur started to turn black.

"No one ever calls me and my friends weak," he growled. "Especially Blaze. No one calls us weak!" A dark aura erupted from Sonic and his eyes went blank. His sword turned black and had an aura of dark power as well.

Dark Sonic flew right at Nightmare to attack. The dragon had just enough time to block it, but was struggling to hold it.

"How does he have this much power?" he thought. "Is it coming from the Lunar Emerald? No, it's something else." The two continued but Nightmare was then knocked to the ground. Dark Sonic put his sword to his opponent's throat and was about to end it, when a shadow appeared from above.

The figure jumped Sonic and knocked him down. Nightmare was shocked to see that the figure was Krystal, as well as appalled that she ignored her orders again.

Dark Sonic got up quickly and delivered a flurry of rapid fast blows to Krystal. He then swung his sword and places a serious gash on her arm, leg, and torso. Sonic was then about to finish her when Nightmare grabbed the back of his head and said, "Dark Thunder."

Dark energy was then pulsed into Sonic and he was then knocked unconscious while reverting back into his original form. Nightmare took the Lunar Emerald from Sonic and looked at Krystal's unconscious body.

"Oh, Krystal," he thought. "What am I going to do with you?" He picked up the ice blue hedgehog and went to the wolf and cat. The three then returned to their base in a blast of black flames.

**The next morning…**

Sonic woke up in his bed back at GUN base. He was bandaged up and was feeling weak. "Oh, what happened?" he asked.

"We lost the Lunar Emerald," a voice said. Sonic looked up and saw Stone in the doorway with his arms crossed. "You all lost in battle to Nightmare and two of his allies."

Sonic then remembered something. "What about Blaze and Shadow?" he asked. "Will they be okay?"

"They'll be just fine," Stone answered. "They just need some rest. As do you. We will continue your training when you and the others get better." Stone then walked out of the doorway and sonic went back to sleep.

**Zodiac Base**

"Seriously, Krystal," Nightmare shouted. "I specifically told you to stay put, yet you ignore my orders again! Now look at what happened!"

Krystal was covered in bandages from Dark Sonic's attack and she looked down in shame. Nightmare exhaled and placed his hand under her chin.

"Krystal," he said. "Look at me." The ice blue hedgehog looked at her superior as he gave her a small smile.

"I know you wanted to help," he said, "but you have to realize that you're my second in command. And you must also remember that I won't be around forever. That means that when I die, you will become the next leader of Zodiac. And to be sure, I want to see if you have what it takes to be a leader.

"But for now, you need to follow your orders. Soon, you will run the show, and I expect you to run it well."

"Yes sir," Krystal said. Just as Nightmare was about to leave her for rest, he asked, "Do you know why I chose you to be my second in command?" Krystal looked at him as he turned his head to her.

"It's because I trust you the most," he answered. As he left, Krystal blushed at the though. "Does that mean… he likes me?" she thought. "More importantly, do I like him?"

**A/N:**

**Thank you for reading this but I have some bad news. I won't be posting any new chapters until I get more reviews. This chapter is an exception, but I won't be making anymore exceptions now. I want to see what you think of my story, or you can call this story discontinued. If you don't want that, then I suggest that you send in your comments and idea suggestions for the story.**

**And before I forget, here's the bio on Dusk.  
**

**Dusk the Wolf  
**

**Age: 18 (even though he is two days old in the story)  
**

**Desc: The results of a project Zodiac was secretly working on. He was given Shadow's powers of Chaos. Even though he was just created, he has enough power to be considered Level 3. He is truly loyal to Nightmare, who he considers as his master.  
**

**That's all people.  
**

**Nightmare the Dragon, Signing off!**


	10. Chapter 10

**The Black Sun**

**Disclaimer: I think you already know it don't ya?**

**Chapter 10**

Three days have passed since their last battle with Zodiac and they still have some unanswered questions. What does Nightmare want with the Lunar Emeralds? What are the kokushibyou? And what are they after?

Sonic went to Stone for some answers. Stone was in the GUN Headquarters library, reading an ancient book until he noticed Sonic.

"Sonic," the armadillo said. "How can I help you?" Sonic walked up to the armadillo and said, "I have some questions that I want answers to. Do you think you can help me?"

Stone was silent for a moment, until he answered, "I will. But not now. Meet me here at 9:00 tonight." Sonic nodded and left.

**Meanwhile…**

The hedgehog was running hard to get away from the thugs that were chasing her. She ran as hard as she could until she came to a dead end.

"Darn it!" she muttered. The thugs have caught up with her and were closing in. One pulled out a knife from his pocket walked towards the hedgehog. But instead of backing up, she brought up her hand to the crystal she wore around her neck. A white aura surrounded her and she grabbed a 9 mm Uzi from her belt.

She began firing balls of energy at the thugs' feet. They tried their hardest to dodge them until they finally ran off. "That'll teach them," she said. The hedgehog was about to walk off until a figure appeared from the shadows and grabbed hold of her.

The figure kept his hold around her waist, restraining her arms and covered her mouth with a cloth. "This smell," she thought. "Why do I feel so…" Then she passed out.

When she woke up, she found herself in a dark room with a single light hanging over her. "Where am I?" she asked. She wasn't expecting an answer.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you," a snake like voice said. "At least, not yet." A blackish purple cobra walked out of the shadows of the room. "And why not?" the hedgehog asked.

"That is the will of Master Nightmare," the cobra said. "But allow me to introduce myself. My name is King Cobra, but you can just refer to me as Cobra. I am a representative of the organization named Zodiac. Now, allow me to introduce, Nightmare, the leader of Zodiac."

A black hedgehog with three quills and six spines walked out of the shadows. "Welcome, friend," the hedgehog said. "I am Nightmare, Nightmare the Dragon."

The hedgehog raised an eyebrow. "Dragon?" she asked. Nightmare answered with a, "I'll explain later. But first, what is your name?"

"Alexis the Hedgehog," she said. "Now why am I here?" Nightmare paced around her with a smirk.

"The answer is simple," he said. "I wish to offer you a place among Zodiac's ranks."

**Back at GUN base…**

Sonic was about to meet Stone at the desired time. The armadillo was sitting at the table in the base's library. Sonic sat across from him and said, "Okay, now let's talk."

The armadillo nodded and brought out a must old book. "Now, what's your first question?" he asked. Sonic then asked his first question.

"What can you tell me about the Lunar Emeralds?" he asked. Stone opened the book to a specific page. "The Lunar Emeralds are seven powerful crystals that were created by the most powerful dragon in recorded history, Tatsuya, the Cosmic Dragon. Legend has it that he sealed away a powerful evil into a black sun to protect the world. To keep the evil from being released, Uchujin created the Lunar Emeralds to prevent the seal from being broken."

"Okay," Sonic said. "Are the Lunar Emeralds just like the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Actually, no," Stone answered. "Unlike the Chaos Emeralds, the Lunar Emeralds were created to give their power to those who are of Uchujin's descent. There are some that can use small amounts of power from the Emeralds because they are descended from families that were chosen by Seiun himself for an unknown reason.

"They cannot use the full power of the Lunar Emeralds though. That is only for those of Tatsuya's descent. Problem is; Tatsuya was never married, so the chances of finding his descendant are slim."

"Okay," Sonic said. "But what about the akuma? What part do they play?"

"They serve the evil that Tatsuya sealed away," Stone answered. "The evil known as Apocalypse. If he is released, then the world as we know it is doomed."

"That could be what Zodiac's planning," Sonic said. "They could be planning to release Apocalypse from his prison."

"I'm not sure," Stone said. "Though it is a possibility. If they find a descendant of one of the chosen families, they could be able to break the seals that are containing Apocalypse."

"We have to find those Lunar Emeralds before they do!" Sonic said. Stone closed his eyes and said, "In time, Sonic. But for now, we must continue your training."

Sonic nodded and the two Mobians left the library.

**Back in a hidden location…**

"You want me to join you?" Alexis asked in disbelief. Nightmare nodded and said, "You would be a very useful ally. I know that you're a descendant of a chosen family. You have the power to use the energies stored within Lunar Crystals."

"I don't know," Alexis said. "I'm not sure if I'm of any use to you. I don't have all that many special powers."

"You can track down the energies given off by the Lunar Emeralds," Nightmare said. "And even though you don't have any elemental powers, it's still a good idea to have a gunner on hand. You could be a good replacement for our past assassin. Who knows… you might even forget your dark past."

Alexis was surprised that Nightmare knew of her past. She thought hard at what he said. Getting rid of her past would be good, but that would be impossible. Still, they might help her forget.

"All right," she said. "I accept." Nightmare smiled and held out his hand. "Alexis," he said, "welcome to Zodiac." Cobra slithered out of the scene while Alexis and Nightmare vanished in a blast of black fire.

**Okay, chapter 10 is done. I would like to express my thanks to Kid Icarus Girl for letting me use her fan characters in my story. You're the best K.I.G.**

**Also, you may have noticed that I changed the name of the Cosmic Dragon. That name was only temporary, just until I find a more suiting name, thanks to K.I.G. Once again, thank you very much.**

**That's all for today everyone.**

**Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!**


	11. Chapter 11

**The Black Sun**

**I don't own Sonic, just Zodiac**

**Chapter 11**

Five weeks have passed since Sonic, Blaze and Shadow started training with Stone. They have gotten a little stronger, but still haven't made it to the second level. "Come on, Stone," Sonic complained. "Is there any short cut to getting to the second level fast?"

"If you try to reach power by using shortcuts," Stone said, "then you won't get any real power. The only way to get to real power is through hard work." The three sighed and just went with it. They continued on with sword training and close combat.

After hours of training, they were finally dismissed. "Jeez," Sonic gasped. "Any longer with this, and I doubt we'll have any energy left to stop Zodiac." Shadow nodded his head in agreement. "It may be hard, but we still need to get stronger," he said.

"As soon as we reach Level 3," Blaze said, "we might have a ghost of a chance. Might." All of a sudden, an alert began to blare out.

"Attention all personnel, attention all personnel," a man on the PA said. "We are being attacked by dark creatures. Sonic, Shadow, Blaze, and Stone, standby for battle."

The three warriors dashed outside where Stone was waiting, and a bunch of black akuma creatures. "Get ready," Stone said. "We're gonna be very busy here." The three nodded and brought out their weapons. The akuma began to attack as the battle began.

Sonic jumped in from the get go and killed five demons in the first three seconds. Blaze burned several more with her blazing hot Halo blades. Shadow blasted more with his Chaos Spear. Finally, Stone was using a fist made of solid rock to pick off akuma one by one.

The battle raged on or what felt like hours, but no matter how many akuma they killed, more seemed to pop up. "This is getting us nowhere," Sonic said. Blaze jumped up behind him and said, "We need a way to kill them all at once."

Shadow smirked at the hearing of that. "You can leave that to me," he said as he began to remove his inhibitor rings. Sonic and Blaze started to panic and rushed to a barricade. Stone was confused at this, and even more when he saw a red aura surrounding Shadow.

The next thing he noticed was getting dragged off to the barricade. "What are you doing?" Sonic shouted. "Do you have a death wish or something?" Stone looked at him. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Blaze pointed over the barricade and the three looked over and saw that the aura got even more ferocious. Then, two faint quills appeared on the sides of Shadow's head. "What?" Stone thought.

"Chaos Blast!" Shadow shouted. "Get down!" Sonic yelled. A blast of Chaos Energy erupted from Shadow's body and destroyed all of the akuma. The three Mobians rose up from the barricade to see Shadow with two quills, kneeling in the center of the blast. Stone and the others knew that Shadow was now Level 2.

"Incredible," Stone thought. "You took out all of those akuma with one attack."

Shadow placed the rings back on his wrists and said, "That was my most powerful attack, Chaos Blast," he said. "But it's even more powerful when I remove my inhibitor rings and enter a phase I call "Shadow Fever."

Suddenly, a giant black akuma that looked something like a Minotaur erupted above the trees. "Yikes!" Sonic exclaimed. "That thing's huge!"

"Judging by its size, I can tell that we can't defeat it with our normal measures of attack," Shadow said. "If we want to defeat it, one of us has to go Super. I think Sonic will have to take this one." Sonic jumped because he remembered something critical.

"Dang it!" he exclaimed. "I left the Chaos Emeralds in the base!" Shadow and Blaze fell over in disbelief. "Sonic, you idiot!" Shadow yelled. "You should've thought about that before you came out here!"

"I didn't know we had to face this!" Sonic yelled back. Blaze got in between the two hedgehogs and said, "Arguing isn't gonna get us anywhere! Shadow, you go get the Chaos Emeralds while I distract the Minotaur." Shadow nodded and dashed into the base.

"How are you going to face a B class akuma," Stone said. Blaze looked at him and said, "Just watch." Seven square gems then appeared from Blazes cape and surrounded her. They then were absorbed into her body and she erupted in a flash of bright flames.

Sonic and Stone gawked at the sight they saw. Blaze's fur color changed to a pinkish red, while flames surrounded her whole body. She had become Burning Blaze.

"Amazing…" Stone said. Sonic chuckled. "I'll say," he said. "I've seen Burning Blaze plenty of times yet the sight refuses to go stale." Burning Blaze dashed up to the Minotaur and began attacking.

The monster tried to swing at Blaze, but she dodged the attack and threw fireballs at the beast. The fireballs barely did anything and the akuma attacked again. Sonic could barely breathe from the suspense. "Please hurry, Shadow," he thought.

**Meanwhile…**

"Darn it, Sonic," Shadow thought. "Where the blazes did you leave those Emeralds." He had the Emerald that he carried with him to try and find the Emeralds. So far, he had no luck.

"Darn it," he muttered. "I have to hurry." He dashed on to find the Emeralds.

**Later…**

Blaze was still struggling to cause damage to the akuma. Her attacks weren't doing anything. While she kept dodging the monster's attacks, Sonic was pacing around in a nervous wreck.

"Oh, hurry up, Shadow," Sonic said. Then as if right on cue, Shadow appeared in front of Sonic. "Took ya long enough!" the blue hedgehog said. "Well excuse me for having trouble finding them," Shadow said.

The Emeralds began to surround Sonic and were absorbed into his body. Then in a flash of light, Super Sonic rushed at the monster. Just before he did, Stone noticed something about Sonic.

"Five quills," he thought. "Has he really reached Level 5 in that very moment?" In a number of yellow streaks, the monster was destroyed within seconds. "Incredible," he thought again. Blaze landed next to Stone and Shadow and reverted to her normal form.

Sonic descended behind her and reverted to his normal form. Like Shadow, he also had a second quill. But unlike Shadow, he also had two sets of two spines on his back, making a total of four spines. Just like how Nightmare has two sets of three spines on his back.

"Well, that's unusual," Stone said. "You have two new spines on your back while Shadow doesn't. How interesting."

"That doesn't matter," Sonic said as if the spines didn't bother him. "We now have a Lunar Emerald, and we all leveled up. Now we are even more powerful than before."

The rest nodded and started to return to base. "You know what," Sonic said. "I think we should make our own organization. You know, like how we have to face Zodiac. I think that an organization will be helpful."

"Sounds like a good idea," Blaze said. "But what will we name it?" Sonic thought hard about it and said, "How about 'Mach 5'?" Blaze and Shadow looked at each other and nodded.

"It's a good name," Blaze said. "It's very fitting, especially with you being leader," Shadow added. "And before you ask any questions, I think you should be leader since you are technically the most powerful."

Sonic smiled and said, "All right, it's done." Soon, all three along with Stone, returned to base. But little did they know that they were being watched.

**Zodiac Base…**

"THEY WHAT!?" nearly everyone in the room yelled. "You heard me," a gray mongoose said. "Sonic now has a Lunar Emerald and all three of them have gone up to Level 2."

"Is going up to Level 2 all that uncommon?" Alexis asked. Krystal looked at her and said, "Only if it's five weeks prior to gaining your power! It normally takes months to go up to the next Level, even years to get to Level 5!"

Nightmare slammed his fist on the table. "Sonic," he muttered. "Just what are you?"

"That's not all," the mongoose said. "They also started their own organization with Sonic as the leader. They call themselves 'Mach 5.'"

Nightmare closed his eyes and stood up. "Thank you," he said to the mongoose. "You are dismissed." The mongoose nodded and left the room.

"So they started an organization," Cynder said. "Sounds like they're asking for a battle."

"If it's a battle they want, then I don't see any reason to disappoint," Cobra hissed.

"I should might as well prepare Zodiac," Krystal said. Nightmare nodded and looked out of a nearby window.

"You never cease to surprise me, Sonic," he thought. "If you want a battle, then I'm gonna give you a war!"

**Hey everyone! I've come back from vacation and have finished the story at last. That means that The Black Sun has come to an end, right?**

**WRONG! It would be pointless to end the whole story at a cliff hanger, right? Keep an eye out for the next chapter of the Zodiac series, "The Black Sun: The Lunar Wars." Until then,**

**Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!**


	12. Message

**Super Special Message!**

**Hey, readers! Nightmare the Dragon here with a special news bulletin. **

**The sequel of this story, and part two of the Zodiac saga, is now up! This story will have answers to the saga's biggest questions, for example, what is Zodiac planning to do with the Lunar Emeralds?**

**Well I don't know. Wait… Yes I do! But that's for me to know, and for you to find out. Sorry.**

**But check it out! Many mysteries will be solved, and many more will be opened.**

**Nightmare the Dragon, signing off!**


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